GLORIOUS GRAVEL | SHERWOOD FOREST GRAVEL EVENT 2023

In this episode me and and the Team cycles Crew enter ourselves into the glorious gravel 70k event at Sherwood Forest.

#cycling #gravelbike #trekbikes #trekprocaliber #groupride #gravelride #cyclingevent

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W bread bins it’s October 21st the storm has subsided and we’ll get on racing let’s go my name is Ben Chapman I got into ping when I was eight my most favorite thing in the world is jumping on a train and just get off and then go ride in

That area it’s just the freedom of having a bike and go anywhere you want so yes good morning and welcome back the bikes are loaded and we are on our way to the Glorious gravel event in Sherwood Forest today I am being accompanied by the flying mullet and

Jonathan Jonathan doesn’t have a cool name like the flying mullet the panda panda the panda man the panda where does the panda come from oh Richie that one well the the the panda came from the fact that a Pon sits in the in the office doing Social Media stuff just

Eating bamboo and that’s how we got the that’s how the P came about there’s no link there’s nothing that just do he needs bamboo he hats more than bamboo he’s about 100 kg here in the UK we have been hit by some pretty heavy rain so we’re looking

Forward to a very very muddy sportif last week I took the pro out to see whether I should be riding the procal or the de Mane on this route this week and I decided on the de Mane but due to the weather I’ve bought the mountain by with

Me so the plan for this evening is a little bit of food we’re going to check into our hotels and then we’re going to be up bright and early in the morning for the start line as I mentioned in last week’s video everybody in this van is an employee of Team cycles and

They’ve set us a little task this weekend depending on how fast or slow we complete this race as a three team Cycles have agreed to give away that amount in percentage if you want to explained a little bit better head over to last week’s video mat Mat Matty what

Sort of nutrition plan is this um this is third car Jonathan you participated in this last year oh no March March this year this year I how long did it take you well it took about 4 and a half hours but to be fair the the conditions L um

In March probably about the same as what it’s going to be to like on Sunday I reckon but snow but snow yeah yeah I think it it snowed for the week running up to it and they they did the same in March what they’ve done this weekend and

Like cancelled today’s ride and showed everyone on the Sunday ride which means there’s double the amount of riders that are going to be on like the track that day so there’s going to be going be more Riders to beat Jonathan that’s what he’s saying there going to be there’s just

Going to be more people in front of Jonathan mattity has got probably the best chance of getting the fastest time on this cuz he’s a competing athlete I seem to ride very little at the moment due to vlogging and all my other jobs you do more M than I do Matty isn’t

Even 20 yet so he has the testosterone of a small child I’m 41 and Jonathan somewhere in the middle Jonathan sits editing every single day and doesn’t get in nearly as many miles as probably me or Matty so we’ll see It’ll be it’ll be quite interesting but it’s going to be a

Split field I don’t think any of us will be riding together put it that way but we’re all on mountain Bikes Do Well hello oh the car park so 2 and 1 half hours down the motorway we’ve made it to our hotel we’re going to get some food Matt’s probably going to get some more beers and I’ll see everyone bright and Early Fast forward 12 hours and what feels like about 3 hours sleep in a very loud Travel Lodge we have made our way to a beautiful field just off the the edge of Sherwood Forest and it’s actually a lovely morning did you sleep Young no I

Woke up with a 3:00 and I’ve been up since you’re now making a bag of treats how are you Jonathan I’m feeling quite fresh this small actually yeah yeah surprisingly I don’t don’t tend to sleep well in travel lodges but I already anything other than me on bed I saw two

Beers at the table and then one on Instagram so that’s three cans that his responsibility isn’t it unlike these two I am all signed on and ready to go and there’s already a queue so it’s time to get competitive it is I’m sure we’ll catch you up then woo fighting talk due

To the wet weather last night glorious gravel sent out a new route and it’s around about 20K shorter I’ve got it ready on my head unit these boys didn’t see it so the route has changed a tiny bit but shorter surely means faster course on Friday it wasn’t sunny then I

Assure you so with pink signs and black arrows okay so pink black Arrows I didn’t bring my uh my goggles my bearings are going to love this so I suppose this is a great time to announce I’m about 20K into this and about 300 M of swimming very wet was steep so yeah I’m about 20K into this one I think there’s only about two

People in front of us at the moment every road section I’m getting caught by the gravel bikes little bit faster on the air yeah it’s just a road bike road bike versus the mountain bike but yeah we push on lovely day Though L so 40K into this and about 20K to go excuse the mess some of the fields are like bogs so we’ve had waste deep water bogs the farmer fields are absolutely drenched and apart from these small Road sections I’m having to hold about 270 Watts I’ve actually got my road pedals

On just out a power meter on my Mountain Bo but we push On I have just ticked over the 52 k Mark and I’ve got 10K to go I’ve got just enough water probably which is just salt and sugar and I’m still holding around about 200 wats but I’m definitely feeling it now I didn’t stop at the feed station I’ve got enough in my tailin

So yeah try for the best time possible but it’s not a race cheers So we got about 4 miles left and about 2 miles agoo about 2 miles ago I got a puncher which took the wind out my CES a little bit I think three people pass me but the front tire is actually tubeless and the back one had a tube in it and I never

Set it back up tubless it was a thorn and I’m GED I didn’t [Applause] now 67k and I can see the finish line See a 52 52 yeah done medal nice one buddy did you enjoy yourself out there yeah The Punchy killed me oh yeah took me for about 20 minutes where’s Jonathan mate uh he’s back in the the puddle having a swim somewhere I think I eventually cross

Cross the line in 2 hours 45 Matty has crossed the line in 3 hours 14 I dropped two t though Dro T twice I got a puncher and I’ve only got about 20 psi in my rear tire for the last 5K well done boys where did you go joy said to me he

Said I got bored of his slow pace he yeah was a weird look at you Freckle face oh you want the good news or the bad news what we’ll go for the bad news I end on the good news the bad news is you let Matty beat you what’s the good

News though the good news is you beat last year’s time I did I did but it was it was 10 m less though 10 m less but then again the average pce was up so I can’t come so that’s the crew back together

And now we have got a 2 and 1 half hour Journey back to Newcastle but glorious gravel I met some new faces and at one point I was up to my waist in water but that is what it’s all about it should be called glorious mud for today anyway

Sherwood Forest is absolutely beautiful I’ve been once before and it was on a frosty Frosty day so that looked a lot different I wholeheartedly apologize for the lack of content during that ride but I had my head down and I really wanted to put in a decent time and I think I

Did that in last week’s video I explained the accumulation of all our times team Cycles agreed to give some discount away and I can announce that now we know that everyone’s back in team Cycles will give an extra 9% off any bike in team cycles and that’s even the discounted ones as well

So if a bike is already discounted by 20% you’ll get 29% off not bad so I think we are now off to get some real food because I pretty much fueled that ride on carb water and salt tablets and sorine bars Jonathan what’s your verdict on the Glorious gravel Sherwood Forest

Adventure swim oh it was entertaining entertaining the S the least all once you hit once you hit the water you knew you were in for a good ride you’re quite tall so it’s probably only up to your waist I can’t about there what Ben what’s the matter mate I’m uh just dying

Man I thought he was an athlete athlete no we a PO yes I’m an athlete in the P at what point did you feel those eight cans you had yesterday none never no I told you I I get good results when I drink at no point was you dehydrated

At all I’ve only drank one ball I don’t believe that for a second look to me bun no I believe that you’ve drunk one bottle but I don’t believe you’re not dehydrated well I’m still alive H What a weekend that was and no I’m not completely crazy jumping on the turbo straight from Sherwood Forest it’s the following day because yes yesterday I had a superb Sunday lunch to recover and then I sort of just zoned on the sofa glorious gravel have released the times

And I came in at 2 hours 50 on their sheets on the head unit 2 hours 40 with paus in so it took me precisely 10 minutes to get that inner tube in and out but next time I’m going to be tubless less lesons learned after the race somebody actually

Set the course as a segment and I came in third so not too bad I’m aware that not everybody is running straa but I’ll take a third for now you know what they say if it’s not on straa it didn’t happen as I mentioned in the field team

Cycles are going to give away an extra 9% on top of everything in store for a couple of days and I’m going to leave my code for you to access that extra percentage in the description below this offer is only going to be available for

A couple of days and it’s going to be off absolutely everything even discounted items over the last few months I’ve really enjoyed the events the hill climbs and the sport tees and I’m in two minds whether next year to do a normal big bike packing trip or just

Go up and down the UK over the weekends exploring races sportifs and and hill climbs so in the comments below what would you guys rather see a bike packing trip over a two week or 10day period or just me continuously riding bikes having fun here in the UK let’s have a bit of

Fun with it and make it easy if you’d like to see more things in the UK pop down in the comments UK if you want me to leave here pack up the bags pop down in the comments pack the bags next week the camera is coming to

Tenar Reef with me so look out for that one I’m going to leave this video here please remember to comment like And subscribe and I’ll see everyone next Time